Datone Jones

Datone Jones did not fit into the defensive scheme well at all in 2013 from what I could tell. If Capers and co. are talking about an overhaul of the defense, this may be part of the reason behind it. Whatever else he is, Capers is no idiot and if scheme was holding Jones back, I'm sure he realizes it.

If you're going to be a 290 lb. 3-4 DE playing in base then you need to play bigger than that on this team. Jones does not. If he did we wouldn't care what he weighs and we'd not have this discussion, but the fact is he's looked iffy at the point of attack and plays like a 290 lb. guy at best. That's why it's a topic of discussion. In fact, he looks remarkably similar to Mike Neal 1.0, and we know how that turned out.

If the Steelers dropped from 2nd. to the bottom 1/3 of the league because they lost players and got older in the back 7, while also switching out a couple of guys on the front line, that is very relevant. You can get away with certain deficiencies so long as you can compensate for them with other strengths. I guess I could repeat this until I'm blue in the face, but we do not have the surrounding personnel to get away with a small base front, or I should say more correctly, a base front that plays small in front of back 7 that plays small. Jones plays small.

Citing how few 3-4 base DEs play at a certain weight is intended to be indicative, because there aren't many exceptions and among those exceptions there are few with remarkable credentials. Exceptional talents are required to overcome the size differential. Jones has not shown that. We should expect more from a 1st. rounder.

If Jones were playing in place of Ray McDonald in SF, next to Dorsey and Smith, on a line where all the guys come in at or under 300, he might be just fine because they are backed by an All-Pro linebacking crew. We don't have that. Our D-Line guys need to play bigger.

Click to expand...

Oh, I get it. Its another clever ruse. Its all a clever ruse. All your posts, that were misleading, disingenuous, and just wrong - it was all a purposeful plan to the conclusion that the whole defense sucks!

How are you going to turn this around, though, when Jones comes out in 2014 and kicks butt? I know, you will say, 'see, he has gained some strength in the offseason and is now a force, I was correct.'

Truth of the matter is your expectations are wrong. Jones showed something, flashes of dominance early in the season, prior to his injury. He doesn't look anything like Neal, he has a completely different game than Neal.

Datone Jones did not fit into the defensive scheme well at all in 2013 from what I could tell.

Click to expand...

IMO that's true if you're talking about DE in the base D. But if Jones showed a consistent pass rush in a sub package he would have fit the scheme perfectly - and the sub packages were used more often than the base D.

Oh, I get it. Its another clever ruse. Its all a clever ruse. All your posts, that were misleading, disingenuous, and just wrong - it was all a purposeful plan to the conclusion that the whole defense sucks!

How are you going to turn this around, though, when Jones comes out in 2014 and kicks butt? I know, you will say, 'see, he has gained some strength in the offseason and is now a force, I was correct.'

Truth of the matter is your expectations are wrong. Jones showed something, flashes of dominance early in the season, prior to his injury. He doesn't look anything like Neal, he has a completely different game than Neal.

Click to expand...

Yes, the defense is not very good at all. Whether the term "suck" comes into the vocabulary remains to be seen. Free agency will be a key determinant.

You can call it a ruse or disingenousness if you like. I prefer to think of it as working through a logical path. We have a disjointed mix of talent and guys out of their natural positions, Jones included.

I think that it was pretty obvious to everyone that our base defense last season was schemed around having three big bodies on the field. It´s fine that some smaller guys had success playing in a 3-4 for a different team, IMO it was crystal clear that Datone wasn´t a perfect fit in the Packers 3-4 base defense last season.

It seems like Capers will use a different scheme next season which could fit Datone way better, but we still have to wait and see how that works out.